compressors

Hi all I am about to buy an air compressor for my 5&1 here in Australia and would appreciate any views on size suitable. I have had suggested a 3 phase ,7 hp, 760LPM, WITH 150 litre tank, any thoughts? Thanks Glenn

I would ask the good folks at Jim Coleman what they think, and go with that.

3-phase is always good. The electrical components tend to hold up better.

The most important consideration for a commercial compressor is that it's rated for continuous duty.

I prefer to run two compressors, each one just big enough to supply everything. I've tied the two tanks directly together so each time the pump comes on it runs longer (Starting the motor generates a lot of heat). One compressor is set to a lower pressure so it doesn't get used at all unless the main one fails. The main unit cost $2,100, the backup unit was only $900 and easily runs the whole wash.

Homer's advice should be taken with a grain of salt as he is a distributor.

My advice Buy a Used second one to have on Hand plumbed at a "T" with gate valves. Once or twice the older ingersoll I bought off craigslist payed for it self quickly in downtime on the main compressor. Once a week on a slow day I will run the secondary to keep everything fluid and up to speed.It also allows you to do maitnence on the main compressor while remaining open all the time. in the end No air-No Open!

I am not a distributor, I work for one, and we don’t sell Coleman stuff. I don’t see why he would have to take my advice with a grain of salt? I am in 12-20 car washes a day. I think my advise is pretty valid. Someone can be held liable if they recommend a poor compressor set up. For a new operator I would think that is pretty important. I know you have forgotten more stuff than I will probably ever know, but still…

What's a litre? :)

Regardless of size, get a 100% duty cycle because sometime in the future you're gonna blow an air line. Murphy's law tells us that will be five minutes after you left and won't be back until the next day. You'll walk into an equipment room and the compressor will have run so long you could fry an egg on it.

For your application a quality 5hp three phase with 100% duty cycle will be plenty big enough pump. I would recommend a tank in the 60-80 gallon range. I've never bought a compressor tank by metric standard but google tells me that 150 liters is only 40 gallons, which is small. I would rather it run longer when it starts up.

Oh yeah, get a vertical tank. You'll find a use for the space.

Thanks once again fellas , always nice to get your opinions , particularly yours Greg as you have given good advice to many of my questions on this site & knowing that you are a Colman equipment user. By the way Ive noticed a distinct drop off in users on this site, I hope its only because your all to busy making $ Regards Glenn

I have a 4 ss wash,(Foam brush,Tire cleaner,Presoak) Can someone advice me what compressor size i need,Above are the fuctions i will hook up to the compressor
Tank size is important

Get the smallest compressor you can find with a continuous duty cycle and break it in per manufacturer's instructions and it will last for many years.